


Downed Bird

by GalaxyGazing



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, Implied Relationships, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 14:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1514573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyGazing/pseuds/GalaxyGazing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starscream was beyond repair when Knock Out found him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Downed Bird

The ugly scream of metal being torn strangled the hallways with terrible reverberations.

The screeching material ripped into a trembling whine of broken limitations, followed closely by the sound of pure catastrophe.

Horrible crunching, bitter destruction, and then silence—the hollow sort of silence that followed anything newly broken, as if the whole world was shocked into wordlessness and mournful stillness.

All of these sounds were wasted. No one heard them, no one even knew. It wasn’t until Knock Out found him lying there that the damage was realized.

“ _Starscream_.”

The Medic couldn’t believe his optics. When Megatron had said he’d had enough of the areal, he’d meant it this time.

Starscream lay, unsettlingly stationary, with the four folds of his wings scattered distantly and separate from the rest of him. The severed ends of his wires and other mechanisms bled energon lazily onto the tile.

Knock Out ran over to the silver body, cradling it gently and urging,  
  
“Come on, come on, wake up!”

Though done too slowly to calm his nerves, the red glow of Starscream’s eyes creaking open informed Knock Out that he was still online.

“Commander,” Knock Out quavered, not quite sure what else to say; words were becoming increasingly evasive the longer he calculated how irreparable the jet was.

And Starscream, in that state, had the nerve to press his lips into a thin smirk,

“I have…been relieved of my post…I am no one’s Commander…anymore.”

His voice was so strained and incorrect, speech disjointed by the pooling energon at the back of his throat.

“I realize…with my recent demotion…you no longer…have to listen to me…but…do you think…you could…do me...one last favor…Doctor?”

The words, despite their struggle making it to audible form, were still dusted with a humorless witticism, which was Starscream’s recognition of his own helplessness. Rather than the testy, arrogant leader the jet always pretended to be, the stark contrast of his current tone with his usual growl alerted Knock Out that everything had been stripped down to its bare essentials. 

No need for masks or facades any longer. In a moment, neither would matter.

Knock Out was actually trembling and he knew Starscream could feel it, propped up against him.

“Of course, anything, name it.”

But Starscream didn’t have to name it. He didn’t even need to say it. He just gave Knock Out a smile—the most exhausted smile in the history of the world.

“No. No.”  
  
“Please, Doctor.”  
  
“No, I won’t do it, Starscream. Come on, we can…” His optics darted helplessly to the ruined wings across the room, “We can fix you. We can, I could, I could—“  
  
“Knock Out.”

The name pierced through the car like a javelin. He had only heard Starscream use such a gentle, desperate certainty in their rare (but sacred) moments of intimacy.

Starscream would lock his heals around Knock Out’s waist and the inflection of his voice could almost be misinterpreted as begging, or loving, if they had more time to establish that maybe this was something more than physical. The next day they were always Commander and Doctor, but there were occasional moments where Knock Out was _stay with me._

That is what that name meant now.  
  
“We both know how this ends…I’d rather not…wait this out.”

The red mech pressed his forehead to Starscream’s, squinting his optics shut, cupping his faceplate with a shaking servo and every tremor revealed his reluctance. Starscream persisted,

“Please…I want it to be you…Not Megatron …I want it to be you.”

Knock Out slid his head into the crook of Starscream’s shoulder and quietly sobbed. Starscream let him do so for a moment, waiting patiently. His optics were raised upwards, staring at the ceiling but not seeing it. Only when Knock Out lifted his head did Starscream shift his gaze to meet his.

“I love you.”  
  
Those words were the last that Starscream heard. Immediately afterwards, Knock Out punched a hole through his chest cavity, energon streaming endlessly, shrapnel and jagged metal cutting inwards at vital tubes. Starscream’s chest convulsed and he choked dryly for three sparkbeats before falling as silent as he should have fallen initially, had Megatron been kind.

Knock Out stayed with him until his engines cooled.

_I always have._

 

-

end


End file.
